


to you I call

by masked



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, Human Castiel, Human Castiel in the Bunker, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Newly Human Castiel, Sharing Clothes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-09-07 02:13:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16845145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masked/pseuds/masked
Summary: based on the prompt: "Destiel + new human!cas stealing dean's clothes and dean doesn't know til later"While tracking down his shirt within the bunker, Dean ends up learning a thing or two about Castiel.





	to you I call

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on Feb 23, 2018 [here](http://hamburgergod.tumblr.com/post/171195680528/destiel-new-humancas-stealing-deans-clothes).

At first, Dean thinks it’s a mistake.

Sam’s already kicked him out from his room, because accidents happen _Sam_ , and this wouldn’t be the first time their laundry gets sorted into each other’s drawers, but he swears to god, if Sam suggests that maybe he left it behind at one of the motels they stayed in during their last case _one more time_ —

“Try Cas’s drawer,” Sam says with irritation, all the while pushing him out after Dean harps on him about that ugly-ass bacon-looking shirt. “Maybe your dumb t-shirt got sorted into his stuff.”

Yeah, okay. Invading your little brother’s privacy—who you’ve been living within proximity your entire life—is one thing, but doing the same thing to someone else who just recently moved in with them is…

Except, Dean’s combed through the entire bunker to no avail, so that’s looking more and more like a plausible option now, and it _is_ one of Dean’s more favoured shirts… So while he doesn’t try to go straight to the room occupant’s drawer like the animal that he is, he does find himself knocking at Cas’s door a few minute later.

Cas opens the door, and Dean is still getting used to Cas being here at all. “Yes?”

“Morning,” Dean says, a bit too aware of Cas’s bedhead and his bare feet. “Do you have one of my shirts, by any chance?” Dean describes it to his best abilities. “I can’t find it anywhere, so.”

Cas nods. “Yes, I have it.”

“Oh.” Well, that was easy. “Can I… have it back?”

“Oh. Yes, of course. Give me a…” Cas apparently already knows exactly where it is, so why he didn’t just bring it to Dean in the first place, he doesn’t know. “Here.”

“Thanks.” Dean rubs at the soft fabric. “How’re you, uh, holding up?”

Cas shrugs, like his entire existence hasn’t been altered within the last couple of months. “I’m fine.”

It’s weird. Dean thought—well, he never really did, did he, he always just knocked the idea off its possibility before it could ever bloom into something bigger—but he thought, if Cas ever started living with them, it would’ve been after some big ass world-ending event, or Cas being majorly hurt, or Cas going through something extreme that inevitably bring them together or… something. Instead, Cas’s grace had slowly fizzled out until he was just.. human one day. It was the most subtle change; one day he was an angel, and the next day, he wasn’t.

That’s gotta fuck with someone, no matter who it is. Dean’s almost worried that Cas seems completely okay with it.

Dean nods. “Okay. Let me know if you need anything else.”

Cas smiles, so very softly. “Thank you, Dean.”

He sure hopes Cas is telling the truth.

* * *

The second time comes as a request.

Dean wakes up to a knock at his door, and finds Cas. “Cas?”

“Hello, Dean,” Cas says to the floor. “I can’t seem to find proper sleepwear, so I was hoping to borrow one of your shirts.”

“Oh.” Dean blearily looks back at his room. It’s 4 AM and god knows why Cas hasn’t gone to bed yet, but he goes through a mental list of the shirts he owns, and which one he could lend to Cas. He also reminds himself to take Cas clothes shopping next time they’re in town. “Gimme a sec.”

He finds a shirt that he usually uses as his pajamas, and hands it over. Cas squeezes the shirt tight to his chest, and nods. “Thank you.”

Dean shrugs. “It’s just a shirt.”

Cas nods again, and turns to walk back to his room. It’s 4 AM, so why the hell is Cas awake?

“Hey, Cas?”

Cas looks over his shoulder, the shirt still clutched around his hands. His hair is ruffled from tossing in his sleep. “Yes?”

“You okay?”

One of the corners of his lips quirk up, so ever softly that Dean almost thinks he imagines it for his own sake. “I’m fine, Dean. Thank you.”

“You sure?”

The smile falls, along with Cas’s eyes that were steadily meeting his up to that point, but Cas still nods. “Good night, Dean.”

While Dean stands there and hesitates like an idiot, Cas recedes back into his own room, leaving Dean with the door to his room still wide open.

Dean sighs, and goes back to bed.

* * *

The last time it happens, Dean’s more than willing.

“Any laundry, Cas?” Dean asks, doing his usual round with the laundry basket in hand. God knows anyone gets anything done around here unless Dean’s on their asses about it. He’s already got Sam’s stinky gym shorts and socks, ad his own pile of laundry shoved into the basket.

Cas throws in his own fair share of clothes, and while he’s doing that, Dean notices the shirt he lent to Cas as pajamas, lying on top of Cas’s bed.

“Give me that, too,” Dean says, pointing at it. Cas’s eyes follow his finger, and for some reason, visibly hesitates. “Dude, it’s been like a few months since I gave that to you. We do have a washing machine, so we might as well put it to good use.”

“It’s not that dirty,” Cas still says, not moving to hand it over.

Dean raises his eyebrows. He’s taken Cas to pick out his own clothing since then, and he knows that he has his own clothing to wear to bed now—Dean’s practically forced the pajamas upon him at the time, after all. The fact that Cas still wears it to bed at all is what surprises him more than anything else.

At whatever look Dean wears on his face, Cas sees it and rolls his eyes. He sighs a little, and puts the shirt into the basket in defeat. “You’ll have to lend me another shirt,” Cas murmurs.

“You have your own now,” Dean points out.

Cas opens his mouth to say something, but he closes it. He tries again, and his words come out as a hush. “I just… Sometimes I’m overwhelmed, and it’s nice to have something that’s familiar.”

Dean takes a second to process that little confession. Dean swears he hears the metaphorical click of the light bulb in his head.

He stares at Cas. Cas catches his eyes, and his eyes dart away with guilt.

Cas shrugs. “That’s all.”

Dean feels like an idiot—of course Cas isn’t okay. Not completely, not as much as he pretends to be, because who _would_ be, having to go through what Dean can only imagine is the most life-changing transition from what he used to be, to what he is now. No matter what he used to be, and no matter how much he accepted or rejected notions of what he used to be, that was Cas’s entire identity until he met his dumb humans.

‘Course, Cas wasn’t alone in the process—Dean at least hopes Cas didn’t feel alone going through it, but maybe Cas is just as bad at accepting the offered help as the Winchesters are. Maybe Dean’s just bad at letting Cas know that Cas has him, if he needs him. Some role model he turned out to be.

Dean moves, almost instinctively, before he registers what he’s doing—his arms coil around Cas, and he pulls him into a hug. Cas stiffens in surprise for a split second, but he soon sighs into the touch and relaxes against him as his own arms wrap around Dean. He hopes whatever happens in the future, he’ll be there to offer a little more comfort than lend away one measly shirt.

Sam doesn’t question it when Cas sometimes walks around the bunker with Dean’s shirt on, and thankfully only does one wide-eyed double-take the first time he sees them walk out of Dean’s room together in the morning. Cas doesn’t stay up until 4 in the morning as much anymore, and the times that he does, Dean makes sure to be there to whisper soothing words into his hair, into his skin, pouring care and comfort into him until they both fall back asleep together.

Cas stays, and stays with him.


End file.
